Cabinet having separate deposit and collection compartments



S. S. LANE CABINET HAVING SEPARATE DEPOSIT AND Nov. 28, 19450 COLLECTION COMPARTMENTS Filed March 17, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. L Cm e,

rrOR/vy Nov. 28, 1950 s. s. LANE 2,531,444

CABINET HAVING SEPARATE DEPosT AND COLLECTION coNPARTNENTs Filed March 17, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IHI A9 l -n-rrn-/ ll I" IN V EN TOR.

Patented Nov. Z8, 1950 CABINET HAVING SEPARATE DEPOSIT AND COLLECTION COMPARTMENTS Stanley S. Lane, United States Army,

New London, Conn.

Application March 17, i947, serial No. '135,121

1 Claim.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

The present invention relates tola cabinet constructed and arranged to serve for the collection and distribution of articles on which work is to be done, for example, shoes or other articles to be repaired, and in this sense may be termed ay deposit and collection receptacle.

In the operation of shoe repair shops, the amount of proiit involved in each transaction is rather small, -and the total volume of business is such as to ordinarily preclude the locating of shops at strategic points in the business district or other populous portions of a city because of the high rents charged in such localities.

It is highly desirable, therefore, that the repair shop itself be located in a low-rental section of the city such as in the suburbs, While the transactions with the customers be carried on in the populous or high-rental sections of the city.

To this end it is an object of the invention to provide what may be termed a two-Way deposit and collection receptacle, that is to say, a receptacle in which shoes to be repaired may be deposited by the customers and collected from time to time by an agent of the repair shop, and in which repaired shoes may be deposited by the agent of the repair Shop and individually collected by the customers.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a unitary structure which requires a minimum amount of space and yet which will serve as a safe depository for both the customers and the repair shop in the transactions involved in having shoes repaired.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the merchandise service cabinet,lthe doors being shown in open position;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the cabinet;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the tags to be used in connection with the cabinet;

Fig. 4 is an end View of the cabinet;

Fig. 5 is a similar view with the doors shown in open position; and

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional View through the cabinet.

In Carrying out the procedure heretofore menlustration, with a vertical partition 2 to divide the interior into a compartment 3 for receiving the articles to be serviced and a compartment 4 for receiving the same articles after they have been processed. The cabinet is provided with a bottom wall or floor 5, and preferably the vertical walls of the cabinet are extended down- Wardly below the floor 5, as indicated by the numeral t, so as to space the same above its support. This construction is particularly desirable if the cabinet is to be placed on the eX- terior of a building for ready access, and in such instance it is also desirable that the top or roof of the cabinet be of gable construction as indicated by the numeral l, and provided with eaves l'. If the cabinet is to be located on the interior of a building, the top of course may be of at construction.

That portion of the top of the cabinet which is above the compartment 3 is provided With one or more deposit slots or chutes 8 to which may be applied closures 9 for guarding the interior of the compartment against dust, etc. Within the compartment 3 is suspended a bag II,`such as an Army duiel bag, for receiving articles deposited through the slot 8. The bag of course is suspended in open position, and for this purpose four hooks II are provided on the walls adjacent the top of the compartment so as to detachedly suspended the bag by means of loops I2 formed on the upper edge thereof. rlhe compartment 3 is open on the front side as indicated in Fig. 1, but is closed by a hinged door I3 and normally maintained in that position by means of a lock I4,

The end of the cabinet in which is located the compartment 4 is also open, and may be closed by a pair of doors I5 which may normally be held in closed position by means of a lock i6. Within this compartment is placed a plurality of shelves Il for receiving the merchandise which has been processed.

In the use of this merchandise service cabinet, it is necessary that a tag or the like be used, not only to identify the articles deposited by the various customers but also to indicate the Work or service desired in connection with the articles,

the tag to the laundering of wearing apparel or v any other service for which the cabinet would be useful.

In the operation of the merchandise service cabinet, the doors I3 and I5 are initially locked and the cabinet positioned at a convenient point, in possibly a drugstore or the like, or even on the exterior thereof, it being desirable only that the cabinet be placed where it is readily accessible to a great number of persons and where an attendant is handy, the purpose of the attendant, of course, being to have access to the compartment 4 so that the serviced material may be removed and given to the customer after the attendant is paid the amount of the charge for servicing the particular goods. The various customers using the service will withdraw one'of the tags I8 from the support I9 and inscribe there cnhis name and address as well as indicate the particular service desired. He will then apply the tag to the goods and deposit them within the bag IQ through the medium of the deposit slot 8. These vbags will be collected from time to time fromthe service cabinets located at the selected points throughout the city by an agent of the company supplying the service and transported by him Vto its headquarters. At the same time, the attendant will ordinarily deposit on the various shelves I'I in the compartment :i the goods which have been earlier collected and serviced.

By employing these cabinets suitably scattered throughout the populous portions of a city, and by having the factory or servicing company located in the suburbs, it will be obvious that the company saves a large portion of the higher rents required in the downtown section of a city and yet provides the customers with a convenient point at which to leave articles to be treated and 4 to receive the articles after they have been treated or serviced.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described what I now consider to be the preferred form of the invention, but it is quite apparent that various minor changes may be made in structural details without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention and it is therefore intended that all such changes be included within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A deposit and collection receptacle for the handling of merchandise to be serviced, comprising top, bottom and side walls, a vertically arranged partition extending from the top to the bottom wall and dividing the interior of the receptacle into a pair of vertically extending compartments, a bag supported in open position in one of said compartments and adapted to receive goods to be serviced, the top of the receptacle provided with a relatively small deposit slot in vertical alignment with the open bag, the distance between said slot and the bottoni of the bag being sufficiently great to prevent manual removal of articles from the bottom of the bag through said slot, shelves in the other compartment for supporting a plurality of serviced articles to be called for, said side walls provided with separate openings communicating with said compartments and substantially coextensive with the height of the compartments, separate doors for said openings, and separate locks for releasably securing the doors in closed position.

STANLEY S. LANE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,238,993 Edwards Sept. 4, 1917 1,424,519 Richardson Aug. l, 1922 1,665,986 Side Apr. 10, 1928 1,694,930 Seel Dec. 11, 1928 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 330,197 France Oct. 13, 1903 

